Karsa Orlong

I think the right four made it to the final Abbey got my vote in the semi, thought both their dances were brilliant I don't suppose for one minute it'll turn out this way, especially with Susanna and Sophie never having been in the dance-off, but based on the performances so far I'd have Abbey winning, Natalie second, Sophie third, and Susanna fourth.

Glad you enjoyed it in the end I think I'll wait for a couple more books to come out in the series before I think about reading it

Yeah, I might actually get my TBR pile down to 50 (finally!) by Christmas In other news, you probably already know this, but Scott Lynch has announced that the fourth book in the 'Gentleman Ba-stard' sequence, The Thorn of Emberlain, is due to be published in Q3 2014 http://fantasy-faction.com/2013/scott-lynchs-fourth-gentleman-'person of dubious parentage'-book-coming-in-2014 He's making up for lost time, by the looks of it

Shame you didn't like it as much, Tim. I think there's a lot of good points in what you say - I guess the flashbacks and supporting characters just worked for me where they didn't for you

Man of Steel. Dreadful

Book #75: The Legend of Deathwalker by David Gemmell From Amazon: For centuries the tribes of the Nadir have suffered under the despotic tyranny of their Gothir overlords. Disunited and distrustful of one another the tribes await the coming of a Messianic warlord, who will unite them against the oppressors. Into this swirling, chaotic landscape come three men who will change the fate of the continent: Talisman, the mysterious, enigmatic Nadir warrior, haunted by his past and filled with dreams of finding the Uniter; Sieben the Poet, searching for the mysteries of life and love; and Druss the Axeman, determined to find two mystic gems to heal a mortally wounded friend. Together they will journey across a war-torn land, and descend beyond the gates of Hell, where a long-dead king holds the key to a secret that will change the world. The Legend of Deathwalker, this battle-charged tale of Druss among the Nadir, completes the circle begun with Legend. Thoughts: Dreadful cover art aside, this, the second prequel to Gemmell's Legend, effectively fills in the blanks between that brilliant debut novel and The First Chronicles of Druss the Legend, which I read a few months back. The Legend of Deathwalker is framed by the older Druss telling the tale as he waits for the Nadir horde to attack the fortress Dros Delnoch, so it ties in very tightly with Legend. It is the tale of the part Druss played in the rising of the Nadir Uniter, Ulric, and of a battle for a shrine that has become the focus of both the Nadir tribes - none of whom are prepared to relinquish control to the others - and the Gothir army, who set about wiping out the Nadir on the orders of their mad emperor. I found this was a surprisingly subdued novel, given Gemmell's usual pacing and action-packed plots. It takes a long time to get going as it sets up the background and (re)introduces its characters. It's not until Talisman comes into the story that things really start to click, and he, Sieben and Druss are the glue which holds the whole thing together. As usual, Gemmell populated the story with wonderful characters from the main three to a reasonably large supporting cast, all of whom are fleshed out with his by-now-expected skill, and is laced with his dry humour and occasionally thought-provoking dialogue. It's an introspective novel for large parts, dealing with the conflict from each side and encompassing faith and musings on the futility of war. Much like Abercrombie's Red Country - although not in such a deliberate and overt manner - I thought this had a kind of Western vibe to it. The siege of the (fortunately) fortified shrine seems almost like the Alamo, and the setting on the drought-stricken plains only added to this element, I think. Gemmell took the time to finish this book in a way that ties in beautifully to Legend. It perhaps seems to lack the urgency of his other books (although that may not be a bad thing) and is perhaps a little predictable, which is something I've never thought about his other books. I don't think this is his best work, by far. But then, even in a lesser novel, he was still streets ahead of most other fantasy writers, in my opinion. 7/10

Book #74: Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson From Amazon: The young orphan David Balfour is sent to live with his Uncle Ebenezer. When he discovers that he may be the rightful heir to his uncle’s estate, he finds himself kidnapped and cast away on a desert isle. A historical adventure novel originally intended for a young-adult audience, "Kidnapped” deals with true historical events relating to the Jacobite Rising, and has won the admiration of an adult audience. Thoughts: This was a freebie I downloaded when I first got my Kindle, along with Treasure Island. That was three years ago – I read Treasure Island straight away but only just got around to this. I don’t know why I put it off for so long. Kidnapped is, on the face of it, the story of David Balfour and his inheritance. In reality, it is more than that, because it paints a vivid picture of Scotland in the wake of the second Jacobite Rebellion in 1745 (the story begins in 1751, when the clans are not only fighting each other but those loyal to the crown, as well). When his father dies, David is given a letter and sent off to the home of his uncle, Ebenezer, who he has never met. There must be something in the name, because Ebenezer is less than charitable, and soon tries to kill David, and then proceeds to have him kidnapped (the title is a bit of a spoiler! ) by a ship’s captain he has dealings with. That’s the set-up for what turns out to be an adventure story that takes place on sea and on land, across the Scottish Highlands. Some of the events and people were real (including the best character, Alan Breck) and, as a work of historical fiction, I found this hugely enjoyable. David can be a bit whiney at times but, happily, the hand-wringing is kept to a minimum, and the friendship that builds between him and Breck is really well done, with plenty of tense and exciting moments to balance the quieter, more introspective scenes. I suppose the make or break deal with this story is whether or not you can deal with the way Stevenson handled the dialects. Personally, bar a handful of occasions, I found it a really smooth and easy read. The Kindle dictionary helped in places, too. I thought the story fizzled out a little at the end, and didn't really have the big finish I felt it deserved after the brilliant first two thirds, but it wasn't a dealbreaker for me. I must get The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde at some point 8/10

Don't be envious - tickets are £20 each, plus £1 each for 3D glasses

I'm off to see it with some friends in Leicester Square on Monday

They both irritate me

Awesome shelves! So cool Just been reading about this game, No Man's Sky. I want to play it NOW! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRpDn5qPp3s http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-12-09-a-future-that-has-a-history-introducing-no-mans-sky

Yeah, that's about right

Thanks! No, I don't think it's weaker at all, cos it comes at it from a completely different angle. Cornwell's books are about Alfred and the Danes, this one just uses it as a backdrop It's your fault for posting it on here

An interesting review of The Broken Sword from The Guardian, written by Michael Moorcock, no less. There are some spoilers, so I'll copy it here without the offending paragraphs.

Book #73: The Broken Sword by Poul Anderson Thoughts: I just read the Amazon blurb, and it tells you virtually half the story, so I'm not going to post it here A brief explanation of what the story is about: Set in a semi-mythical England at the time of Alfred the Great (when he has just made peace with the Danes led by Guthrum - this fits in nicely with Bernard Cornwell's books ), where man and the 'White Christ' are gradually sweeping the land of faerie-kind from existence, the story begins when Orm, a Dane and veteran of many viking raids, takes an English wife and claims some land by burning a family out of their home. There is one survivor of that family, who just happens to be a witch. She naturally holds a bit of a grudge against Orm and, when his wife gives birth to a baby boy, she tells Imric, an elf lord of faerie-kind. As the boy has yet to be christened faerie-kind can claim his soul, so Imric - by rather foul means - replaces the baby with a changeling, and takes Orm's son as his own. That's the set up. What follows is a tale of a war between the elves and their mortal enemies the trolls, and of the enmity between the elf-fostered Skafloc and the changeling Valgard, and of meddling Norse gods, and of a love story. I think I mentioned, when I posted about The Forgotten Beasts of Eld, that it started in the manner of a saga. In that regard, I think this was the perfect way to follow it, because Anderson tells his tale from start to finish in the style of a Norse saga. It seemed to me to come across in a similar manner to a prose version of an epic poem (there is a lot of poetry in it as well, but more on that in a minute) and has the feel of someone telling the tale around a camp fire to a spellbound audience. It has the same sort of sweep and scale to it and, at the same time, views events from a distance. I thought this might be a problem, in that it might be problematic to engage with the characters, but he does a fine job with characterisation, the dialogue is really well done, and there is plenty of moral ambiguity. It was first published in 1954, the same year that Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring came out, which makes it all the more remarkable, because I would definitely say now that this book is the grandfather of grimdark. It is grim. It is violent (shockingly so, for 1954, I should think), it is full of nasty, scheming characters, and there is incest - although to say more about this would be far too spoilery. And there's poetry. A lot of poetry. Which is also very grim, as far as I'm concerned Fortunately, in a 240 page book, it's all very brief. I've no doubt it's there to enhance the saga-like feel of the novel, but it didn't do much for me. It far from ruins it, though, and the atmosphere that runs throughout is fantastic. Anderson crammed so much into a comparatively short novel - enough to probably keep modern authors in business for a whole series of books - that there is never a dull moment. The characters - particularly Skafloc, Freda, Leea and Valgard - are fantastic. The mix of real history, faerie-kind, and Norse mythology, is exciting and fascinating. And there's a sword, which may or may not be magical I can see myself reading this one again in the future. It's very nearly perfect. Nearly, but . . . 9/10 (I'm deducting 1 point for all the poetry! ) ETA: forgot to mention, thank heavens for the Kindle dictionary, cos I lost count of the number of times I had to highlight a word, and found that it was 'archaic'. It was a huge help and made the reading experience that much more enjoyable and smooth

Well you've got some awesome books on there (of the ones I've read). Exciting times ahead I'm ignoring the Jordan and Sanderson ones Congrats on finishing the previous plan

He's very funny He used to make me laugh when he called Corey Pavin 'Crazy Pavin' "If he swings any harder the ball will disappear up his trouser leg"

I've lost count of the number of Amazon blurbs I've had to edit to include in my reviews because they were so spoilery

I can see it on the cover of his next book now: ""He's better than Peter V. Brett" - George R. R. Martin" Talk about damning with faint praise

He's not exactly Merv Hughes, is he?

That's a complete mystery to me, I must confess. I don't dislike her, but I think she's my least favourite out of the remainder I just listened to the cheering when Susanna and Kevin got through - it seemed it was louder and lasted longer than the ovations for the actual dances

I win! I tend not to read the blurb on Amazon these days until after I've read the book, cos some of them are far too spoilery for my liking. Generally, if i see a rec for a book, or see that the average review score is good, I go and read the start of it and see if I like it. Most of the time it works, sometimes it doesn't (i.e. Mayhem, up-thread), but I like to stay as spoiler-free as possible Anyway, the magic sword thing is no biggie, cos I kind of guessed it would be, otherwise why call the book that? And if it's not a magic sword, I'm going to take Poul Anderson to court, cos it bloody well should be Oh wait, he's dead

High praise indeed! You're not Brent Weeks, are you?

Well played the Aussies, again It's men against boys at the moment. There were warning signs that this was coming in the previous series, imo, when the weather saved us a couple of times.

Yeah, I always get a bit annoyed with that (but then I get annoyed with Len in general - he shouts all the time, and he laid into Patrick unnecessarily last night, as he did with Mark a few weeks ago). Artem's so arrogant he'll never learn, though (no, can't stand him, either ). Thought it was a bit of a 'meh' week, really. Nobody really impressed, to the point where I didn't bother to vote. I'm now convinced Susanna is going to win, though, because she obviously has the public vote